VAL GARDENA, Italy (AP) – Olympic champion Kjetil Jansrud and Norwegian teammate Aleksander Aamodt Kilde finished 1-2 in a super-G on Friday to extend their country’s recent dominance in Val Gardena – and in the World Cup speed events.
It could have been another podium sweep for the “Attacking Vikings” but Aksel Lund Svindal wasted a fast start to his run with two major mistakes, ultimately skiing through a gate and not finishing.
Jansrud clocked 1 minute, 31.99 seconds down the Saslong course, finishing 0.06 seconds ahead of Kilde and 0.13 in front of Canadian veteran Erik Guay.
Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer of Austria finished fourth, 0.48 behind, as he returned to the site of a horrific crash a year ago which ended his season.
Olympic combined champion Sandro Viletta was airlifted off the course by helicopter after crashing and brought to a local hospital. It wasn’t immediately clear what type of injuries the Swiss racer had.
Jansrud has now won all three speed races this season. He swept a super-G and downhill in Val d’Isere, France, earlier this month.
Last year in Val Gardena, Svindal, Jansrud and Kilde finished 1-2-3 for Norway in the super-G.
Norwegians have won the Val Gardena super-G five consecutive times, with Svindal posting three victories and Jansrud two.
Since the start of the 2012-13 season, Norwegian skiers have won 16 of the 27 World Cup super-G races. No other country has more than four wins in this span.
It was the 17th career World Cup victory for Jansrud, who won the super-G at the 2014 Sochi Games.
The 100 points earned moved Jansrud up to second in the overall standings, 140 points behind five-time defending champion Marcel Hirscher of Austria, who does not race downhill.
Adrian Smiseth Sejersted, another young Norwegian, posted his best career result in 11th – in just the fourth World Cup super-G of his career.
Conditions were perfect, with the temperature below freezing level, visibility good and the snow hard and compact.
On Saturday, American skier Steven Nyman, who finished 25th, will be aiming to match Austrian great Franz Klammer and Italian skier Kristian Ghedina with his fourth Val Gardena downhill win – although the Norwegians are also favored.
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Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/asdampf